Page:Mexico of the Mexicans.djvu/144

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124
Mexico of the Mexicans

and good ranches and farms can be purchased at reasonable prices, it is one of the best States to which the prospective emigrant could betake himself. The system of railway communication in Guanajuato is an excellent one and, before the Revolution, was growing yearly; the Mexican Central and the Mexican National lines both traversing it. The city of Guanajuato, with a population of about 80,000, has mediaeval as well as modern features. Some of the larger buildings, such as the law courts and the Hall of Congress, the theatre, and the State College, are very imposing. The town straggles up the sides of a valley, and this position gives it a somewhat terraced appearance. Some of the residences are enclosed in most beautiful gardens and have a really picturesque appearance, embowered as they are among trees and semi-tropical plants. The inhabitants, or at least the foreign colony, are nearly all well-to-do, and consist for the most part of Americans, Britons, Germans, and French.

The city of Léon, which has a population similar to that of Guanajuato, is a manufacturing place and the centre of a thriving agricultural district. There are gold and silver mines in the vicinity, and the woollen and cotton manufactures give employment to large numbers of hands. The goods turned out are for the most part Mexican zarapes, and blankets and the rebozos worn by the women, which are usually woven in bright hues. Wages are good for Mexico, and average about 4s. a day. Some of the bright patterns which make their appearance in these national garments cannot be woven by machinery, but are still made on the old wooden looms; and, as in old Thrums, so delightfully depicted by Mr. J. M. Barrie, each cottage has its loom, or perhaps the inmates are leather-workers or tailors.

Colima is a Pacific Coast State and the second smallest in Colima. the Republic. Its population is about 80,000, and it lies for the most part on the western slopes of the Sierra Madre. The principal sources of revenue are agriculture and stock-raising,